[Peace] Conference announcement

[Alfred Kagan]

The AWARE Anti-racism Working Group brings your attention to this announcement.

EDUCATION OR INCARCERATION?
SCHOOLS AND PRISONS IN A PUNISHING DEMOCRACY
An Interdisciplinary Conference hosted by The University of Illinois's
Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society
Thursday, 22 January-Saturday, 24 January 2004

Thursday Night, January 22nd
1. Welcome to the campus by UI Provost Richard Herman, 7:00-7:10.
2. Welcome to the conference by UI Chancellor Nancy Cantor, 7:10-7:20.
3. Keynote Address by Ruthie Gilmore, Soros Senior Justice Fellow, 
African-American Studies, UC Berkeley, 7:20-8:10.
4. Reception for conference participants, 8:10-9:30.
Friday, January 23rd
1. Coffee, Pastries, 8:00-8:30

2. Session 1: How the Prison-Industrial-Complex Ruins Schools, 8:30-10:00
- moderated by Larry Parker, UI Educational Policy Studies.
- Tonya McClary, The American Friends Service Committee.
- Dylan Rodriguez, UC Irvine Ethnic Studies.
- Craig Gilmore, The Education not Incarceration Coalition.
3. Session 2: Schools as Breeding Grounds for Prison, 10:15-11:45
- moderated by Assata Zerai, UI Afro-Am and CDMS.
- Christine Clark, Human Relations, University of Maryland.
- Garrett Duncan, Afro-Am, Washington U. in St. Louis.
- Lizbet Simmons, UC Berkeley.
- Victor & Jennifer Goode, Bowling Green State U.
4.  Lunch, 12:00-1:15, including SPECIAL PLENARY PRESENTATION by John 
Powell, of the Ohio State University Kirwan Institute for the Study 
of Race and Ethnicity.
5. Session 3: Educational Alternatives: Pedagogies of Hope and 
Engagement, 1:30-3:00
- moderated by Alejandro Lugo, UI Anthropology and CDMS.
- Jody Lewen, Director, San Quentin college program.
- Buzz Alexander, Director, The Prison Creative Arts Project.
- Will Patterson, Director, Champaign Boys and Girls Club.

6. Session 4: Artists Empowering Education and Activism, 3:15-4:45
- moderated by Travis Dixon, UI Speech Communication.
- Robin Sohnen, Director, Each One Reach One.
- Victoria Sammartino, Director, Voices Unbroken.
- Michael Keck, NYC-based performance artist.

7. Celebratory Party and Performance, 8:00-10:30
- Michael Keck, a NYC-based playwright, poet, prison educator, and 
workshop leader, will perform his award-winning one man show, "Voices 
in the Rain."
Saturday, January 24th
1. Coffee, Pastries, 8:00-8:30.

2. Session 1: Building the Movement for Peace and Justice, 8:30-10:00
- moderated by Rosalinda Barrera, CDMS co-Director.
- Rose Braz, Director, Critical Resistance.
- Robert Schultz, Midwest Director, Amnesty International.
- Tracy Huling, Director, National Resource Center on Prisons & Communities
3. Session 2: Practical Utopias, 10:15-11:45
- moderated by James Anderson, Chair, UI Educational Policy Studies.
- collective brainstorming, planning, and targeting of future actions. . .

"Education or Incarceration? Schools and Prisons in a Punishing Democracy"
The University of Illinois, 22-24 January 2004
Hosted by The UI Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society

	While the prison-industrial-complex has expanded dramatically 
over the last generation, becoming one of the fastest growth 
industries in the United States of America, now housing over 2.1 
million prisoners and supervising another 3.7 million parolees and 
probationers, public education in America has suffered a precipitous 
decline.  For example, the State of California now spends more money 
on its prison system than on its once celebrated universities and 
state colleges combined.  One result of such political choices in 
California and elsewhere is that there are now more African-American 
men in America's prisons than in its colleges.  Furthermore, we know 
that 68% of state prison inmates did not finish high school, meaning 
there is a direct relationship between schools and prisons, between 
one's access to education and one's chances of becoming incarcerated. 
Indeed, young people who do not finish school are so much more likely 
to enter prison than students who complete high school that some 
scholars have begun referring to a "schools-to-prison pipeline." 
Gathering some of the nation's leading scholars, teachers, artists, 
and activists, this conference will tackle the complicated and 
compelling question of how to reclaim our schools-and hence the 
future of democracy-from the clutches of the 
prison-industrial-complex.

	For questions about the conference or to volunteer your time, 
please contact Stephen Hartnett at 217-333-1593 or hartnett at uiuc.edu.



-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu
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